WICHITA, Kansas – Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis had to divert patients to other hospitals for awhile Thursday morning after a main waterline that feeds the hospital broke.

The water impacted the admissions area of the emergency room.

“We felt it was important for patient safety to go ahead and divert patients with the exception of burn patients,” said Kevin Strecker, Senior Administrator Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis. “We accepted burn patients, diverted everyone else, it was for a period of about two hours.”

Hospital staff will spend the rest of the morning removing water and cleaning up from the break.

“Fortunately, we had folks that responded very quickly, and we literally sandbagged a portion of the hospital,” added Strecker. “There’s a substantial amount of water, but it was contained to a pretty small area.”